Land of the Dead (High School of the Dead SI)

A/N: Have something fun for the Fourth of July Weekend.

The sun was hanging high on the horizon as we made our way back to the storage lot. On my way back I’d made sure to mark down a number of locations that would probably be good places to hit up before everything went south. The simple fact was I had maybe 24 hours at best to get things in order before the EMP struck. And even that was being very generous. I’d probably have to cease all actions during the morning because I wasn’t exactly sure when in the day the bombs went off. Only that the sun was up when it happened. It had been years since I read the manga, and while its contents were largely burned into my subconscious with terrifyingly vivid detail, my memory was far from photographic. That little SNAFU with ...birth control had reminded me of that fact quite clearly.

My face burned with equal parts embarrassment and shame when I processed the fact that I’d probably have to stage, and probably lead, a number of fucking prophylactic runs. Because, God as my witness, I knew all too well that once they had even a moment to rest they would turn to the only form of entertainment that offered itself. Each other.

If I tried to stop it, it would destroy morale and might very well start a riot. And even the idea of keeping them too busy to get busy rang hollow. Being a medieval peasant was a hard job, yet despite all stereotypes to the contrary, your average medieval peasant couple went at it somewhere on the order of five times a night. And that was the conservative estimate.

I really didn’t want to deal with a thousand or so pregnant high school girls.

I sighed.

Who was I kidding? I could find a hundred thousand condoms and they’d probably burn through all of them in a week with a veracity that would make the Olympic village proud. But maybe it’d at least hold off the inevitable until our root cellars were more root than cellar.

“What are you thinking about, Sensei?” Takashi asked, looking at my pensive face.

“Do you really want to know?” I asked, glancing over, looking maybe a little haggard.

“What is it Sensei?” Saya asked. “If something is throwing you off like this, it has to be bad...”

I sighed and looked over. “I forgot to stock up on condoms.”

There was a pregnant pause that fell over the car as everyone present processed that little nugget of information.

“Well shit,” was Shizuka’s response, breaking the pause.

“Sensei!” Saya exclaimed as her mind processed the implications of what I’d just said. “How the hell could you forget something like that...”

“He’s Catholic,” Shizuka replied blandly, “He had this guilty look on his face, like a naughty puppy, when he found out I was on the pill. So that being the one thing that never crossed his mind makes perfect sense.”

I winced at that, yeah...I wasn’t about to go out and buy damn condoms, freaky little rubber sausage sheaths, but since we weren’t exactly acting like how a chaste pre-marital couple should have there needed to be alternatives. It was only the fact that Shizuka had told me in no uncertain terms that she’d been on the pill for years and that it was in no way due to our relationship that had put my mind at ease.

Kinda.

When I thought about it I still felt like I had an elderly nun standing above and behind me giving me this look of silent disappointment. Like right now for example, as I felt the virtual gaze of Sister Superior Cockblocker quietly finding me wanting, her holy, flaming ruler of judgment softly wapping into her open palm.

Rei coughed slightly, “Um, couldn’t we just ask people to not... have sex?”

Everyone except for me turned to look at her. Even Takashi had this look on his face that just screamed, ‘I love you but really?’.

She sighed. “I didn’t think so...”

Saya nodded and then glared at me, her cheeks flaming red. “Sensei, if I end up a teen pregnancy statistic, I blame you.”

“That would involve you getting over your whole Tsundere schtick and actually confessing your feelings,” I replied in a bland tone as I banished my fucks to the great beyond, “In which case, I think your virginity has better protection than a chastity belt.”

Her cry of indignant outrage was music to my ears.

----------------------

We pulled up to the gate not long after that little conversation, the rest of the ride had been completely silent other than one or two snickers that Saya quickly shut down with a harsh glare.

To my surprise there were a pair of garish children’s school busses queued up in front of the gate, both of which seemed to be decorated to look like pokemon, both seemingly waiting for whatever security was out in front to check them over before allowing them in. Despite myself, I was impressed. My boys actually had managed to handle things pretty well without me. Is this what it felt like to be proud of one’s kids? Because it felt damn good.

As we pulled up behind the last bus in the line I glanced through the emergency door window and noticed that there wasn’t anyone in there save for one of my boys who was acting as a lookout. When he looked down and saw who was sitting behind him, his face lit up like the Fourth of July and he soundlessly shouted something before hopping up from his seat and running to the front of the bus. A moment later I could hear shouting from the gate and the busses suddenly rumbled to life and pulled through, whatever security check they had going was being suspended at my arrival.

I was torn about this, on the one hand I was flattered they were trying to welcome me like a returning lord of the manor, people who feel absolutely nothing when folks roll out the welcome mat like that are either freaks of nature or damn liars. On the other hand, I had insisted on safety protocol on everyone coming into our camp for a very good reason.

But I’d just give them a gentle telling off, this was the first time and there weren't too many people involved if both busses were as empty as I thought they were.

When our car came in about a dozen guards, half of them my thegns, the other half a collection of armed students and street toughs, surrounded it. Hayato was leading them and he came to the side of the window I was sitting in, I quickly rolled the window down and grinned at the young man. “Whelp I’m back, how’s everything here?”

“Fine Sensei,” he replied, “I’ll give you a full report once you’re through the tent. Glad to see you back.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, so they hadn’t forgotten the quarantine just for my sake. I was so proud of my boys, I decided I would forget about any reprimand, they seemed to have everything under control. I’d ask them why they waved me through once they were finished. I was sure they had a good reason.

---------------

About ten minutes later and I was slipping back on my shirt and pants, I’d leave the armor and under padding off for the moment, that shit was a pain in the ass to get on and unless there was an approaching swarm coming I wasn’t going to both schlepping that back on just yet.

Spotting Hayato I walked over him and grinned, clapping a hand on his shoulder, I grinned and said, “I’m impressed Hayato, you and the boys have done alright.”

He should not have beamed like I just told him he’d won the lottery...but he was...jeez I’m not that charismatic kid you’re making me embarrassed.

“Right back to work, what’s happened since I left? Any disasters I should know about?”

“No disasters Sensei, but we did find a few treasures.” He replied, “And we even got some joiners!”

Raising an eyebrow I asked, “Joiners?”

“Yeah, seems that Oshiro told another priest about all this. Some crazy guy who worked at the Saint Temeranius academy.

I frowned slightly. I’d never heard of that saint before... must be an alternate Earth thing.

“Go on.”

“Well, he showed up with about sixty kids about two hours ago...”

“Oga raided a truck lot, while one of the girls from our school had an idea of finding the bus depot for all the elementary schools in the area, those busses out in front of you were actually the last of them. With the number we’ve found, if we’re lucky, we can fit everyone on them without having to pack people in like sardines AND we can take all the loot we found.”

Well that explained why one of those busses looked like someone went Go Go Gadget, Pikachu.

I paused.

Wait a minute...“Loot?”

“Hiashi-san and a few of the Karate club members found a bay full of Solar Panels and the equipment to plug them into stuff. If we’re lucky, well, it looks like we’re not going to be going slipping back into the Sengoku any time soon…”

‘If nothing happened to them and they didn't turn out to be more fragile than spun glass’ I thought grimly to myself but they seemed like a good enough stop gap until we had a proper base set up.

Shrugging my shoulders I turned to him and said, “We’ll bring them along, just be sure to pack them carefully, if they crack they’re no good for anyone.”

“Yes, Sensei.” Hayato said with a chipper attitude, the irreverent image of Rock Lee popped into my head, then I shook it to clear my mind, if I ever wound up with a bowl cut, someone just shoot me!

From there Hayato began to walk me through the lot, which at this point was looking like a refugee camp you’d see in the news, which it kind of was.

As we walked through said camp I couldn’t help but notice even more people had arrived since I left, much more than I had ever expected, on the one hand excellent more people had a chance of surviving. On the other hand, despite the extra busses the boys had found, was there going to be food to feed all these people, even if we hit up every depot and gas-station between here and Crystal Peaks?

I also noticed that many of the cars and other electrical items were being taken apart by groups of students and adults with certain components, specifically batteries and complicated electronics, being set aside and stored in metal boxes and cages of one type or another.
With the world ending, the industrial base that had made modern living possible was going to be deader than a hard-drinking, pack a day, disco enthusiast with heart problems and a penchant for fast food. Hence we needed to try and save everything we could for as long as we could, because once Goldeneye went off, just about everything electronic made in the past 50 years was going to be reduced to a paper weight.

------------------

As I walked towards the manager's office, which had become something of my unofficial command center, Father Oshiro waylaid me. He looked tired as expected, but there was a look on his face that spoke of not just fatigue, but a suspicious and slightly distressing amount of exasperation.

“Can I help you, father?”

He smiled and sighed. “The other priest I mentioned has arrived. He’s passionate and proud, but he is a good man. Though perhaps a little eccentric.”

I frowned slightly. This was not filling me with confidence.

“Well then, lead on father...”

I was led off to the side where I saw an intense looking man maybe a few years older than me presiding over a group of children. Unlike Father Oshiro, who wore the black slacks and black shirt most priests I’d met over the years wore. He was dressed in a black cassock like traditionalist priests or those working in Rome would wear. His red hair was cut short and his green eyes took in everything like a hawk watching for prey.

He was also wearing chainmail and had a templar style helmet, complete with the cross shaped facial guard, under one arm. Ihad no clue where he’d gotten such an iconic piece of equipment of that old order. However, I’d learned a long time ago to not ask those sorts of questions when your girlfriend is 100% Japanese, yet has the build and coloration of a stereotypical California beach bunny, and without a drop of peroxide or an ounce of silicone to be seen.

Squaring my shoulders I strode over to the man who was speaking to one of the girls I assumed he’d brought with him, either a tall elementary schooler or a short middle school, I was never a good judge of age and this world made it worse as the women on here less aged naturally and seemed to have three almost amphibious life stages that they shifted into almost overnight: loli, onna, and obaasan.

He was patting her head in a warm and affectionate manner as a parent would their child and was starting to stand up when I cleared my throat to get his attention. He turned around and those intense green eyes bore into mine, before he slowly smiled as he took the measure of me.

“Brody-sensei, allow me to introduce you to Father Muzukashi.”

“Good Afternoon Father, glad you could join us. I hope the trek wasn’t too bad.” I said amiably, if he was going to be nice so would I.

“Terrible, I’m sad to say, but if we must endure hardship to shepherd our flocks, then it is hardship we shall endure. Especially in these most apocalyptic of times,” He spoke like he was haranguing men going into battle.

“Apocalyptic?” I asked rhetorically.

“Of course my son!” He exclaimed, “I was just speaking to Father Oshiro about the threat we face! It should be clear to any true servant of Christ that the first of the seals has been loosed. The Horsemen of Death has ridden free and the dead rise at his command!”

Whelp, we got an End of Days screamer here…

Joy.

While I respected his passion, thinking we’re in the end times could be trouble down the line...

I’d seen those movies and they never ended well for anyone and I’d be damned if we were going to end up being the apocalyptic death cult that the heroes have to stab, shoot, or gently poke to death to save the innocent maiden in five to fifty years depending on your choice of post-apocalyptic media.

Yeah. I was going to need to have a long conversation with Father Oshiro before this shit got out of hand.

His green eyes looked me over one more time, and seeing the glint of my gold crucifix he seemed to be satisfied as he then continued, “Father Oshiro has told me how you were gifted with the Lord’s guidance in these matters. I look forward to speaking to you about these terrible events, and gaining any additional insights you might have to bestow upon us.”

I hesitated for a moment, unsure how exactly to talk to this man. Hoping that telling him I was now as blind to any events from now on would prevent him from deciding I was some sort of prophet, I decided that honesty was the best policy. “I am sorry to admit father but my insight was a one time thing, given to me once, and it only showed me what would happen if I were not present. Once the EMP goes off, I’m as in the dark as everyone else.”

“I disagree, my son,” he replied again, his smile growing, “Though your humble response speaks well of your character. The Lord our God has clearly placed His trust upon you and granted unto you a glimpse of His design for good reason. Even if you no longer know the events to come, I have no doubt that our Lord has gifted you with the rare insight needed to shepherd His flock through these turbulent times..”

“I’m really not...” I fidgeted desperately, terrified at the idea of being proclaimed as some sort of holy prophet. “The father’s told you about how we met, hasn’t he?”

“Not directly, the secrecy of the confessional is absolute, but he didn’t deny my intelligent guesses. But the Lord sometimes calls upon us to make difficult decisions. As it is written, ‘the path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. And blessed is thee who, in the name of goodwill and charity, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children...’”

Oh God no.

Then he got a spark in his eyes as he raised his palms up to the air in an offering of praise to heaven.

“... And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger, those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know that my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee...’”

“I need an adult,” I muttered to myself, in a half-whimper.

“What?” he blinked in confusion. “But I am an adult. And so are you...”

My left eye began to twitch. “Well, amen, Father. I have... matters I need to tend to. Important matters that... matter.”

“Of course. We all serve His will in our own manner. So of course, my Righteous Man, don’t let me stop you...”

Ugh. I could feel the capitalization on that one...

-----------------

Several hours later, after a quick meal and a wipe down with a soapy hand towel I was back in the room the others had set up for me in the back of the office. Some bright wit had managed to make a list of all the people who were in the camp and had sorted them into categories according to age, gender, and where they had come from.

The biggest group was still our school students and their families though the gang members were a quickly growing number with the ratio being about three to five for a total of somewhere around fifteen hundred, give more than take. When you included our boys stationed at the Takagi’s estate as well as the Nationalists’ own people that gave us somewhere over two thousand.

Taking a few minutes to crunch the numbers I was pretty sure that was enough transportation for everyone and our supplies...but even with all the trucks we’d recovered, it was going to be something of a snug fit. I just hoped we didn’t lose too many vehicles in the EMP. God alone knew how many had fiddly electronics we might have accidentally missed. Then again, as long as we could jump the engines and get them to the Ski Lodge, I couldn’t care less if the lot of them fell to pieces the moment it came time to unload.

My nerves began building up again but with experience made from constant practice, especially in the last several days, I managed to shove those to the back. Not ignored but not dwelled upon like a dog with a bone.

Glancing up at Hayato, who was watching me for any sort of approval I quickly grinned and nodded, “Excellent work, it’ll be a tight fit, but I think we’ll manage.”

Hayato grinned like he’d been told he won the lottery. Damn kid, you’re making me blush.

Turning to one of the teachers, I think she was an Algebra teacher, I asked, “And how’s organizing food and other supplies going, once the EMP goes off we’re going to need to throw everything in the vehicles and get going as soon as possible.”

The slight woman tapped her papers twice before she flipped through them, her black hair tied in a professional-looking bun, but I could see the stress lines on her face and her makeup was starting to smudge. I pondered how the women in our little community were going to handle losing easy access to makeup. The au naturale look was not exactly common here in Japan, and that wasn’t counting all the bottle blondes and spray-tanned girls among the more delinquent population. Chalking that to concerns for later I looked back to my fellow teacher. She looked her notes over for a moment then said, “We’ve got more than enough food to feed everyone until we reach our final destination, though once we arrive we’re going to have to begin to forage for food, and we need to keep a close eye out for opportunities along the way. If we take too long, or the foraging is not good we’ll be forced to dip into our seeding supplies.”

I grimaced at that, with the massive increase of dependents in both the lot and the estate, the massive amount of food I had stored was actually starting to look like it wouldn’t be enough. Someone coldly pragmatic would have started turning people away by this point, but I just didn’t have it in me do it. If we had to tighten our belts, then we’d tighten our belts and make do. There were a few older folks that could look to lose a few pounds, as well as a few of the nerds who never took up on my offer.

“Well let’s prepare for the worst and hope for the best, I’d rather we not eat our seed supply unless we have absolutely no other option,” I stated with finality.

She nodded. “Understood, Brody-sama. We’ll come up with a series of rationing plans then.”

“Good,” I replied calmly. “Hopefully we won’t have to go too lean, but it’s better to go to bed hungry for a little while than to gorge yourself and then starve.”

With that the impromptu meeting was over and we got up and got back to work. For the rest of the afternoon I carried boxes, removed vital parts from cars and helped organize other work gangs. I was lugging a box of some unknown origin, probably food, when people began shouting in alarm all over the camp.

Setting the box down I jerked my head towards the gate, expecting a horde of zombies coming our way. Instead I saw a group of students gathered around a table along with one of the teachers, the older man looked up at me, utterly ashen faced.

I knew exactly what this was, and it made my stomach sink, but I had to ask if just to settle myself.

“What happened?”

One of the girls looked up to me, her eyes streaming with tears and her face the very mask of terror. “Sensei... it just... It just went out...”

They stepped to the side, and sitting on the table was a common flashlight. A 100 yen shop cheapo we’d decided to use as a sacrificial lamb for knowing when the EMP hit. The energy pulse would be more than enough to overload the circuit and blow it out.

And it was sitting there, deader than the dead.

I let out a breath I hadn’t even known I was holding.

So it was official: The light of civilization had just winked out in old Zipang, and there was no telling how long it would take before it would come back.

Muttering a quick prayer and making a sign of the cross, I looked to the others that seemed to be milling around at the sudden implications of that little flashlight going out. Elsewhere in the camp, I heard a woman screaming about her husband. I grimaced at that, knowing what that likely was. Even with no zombies around, death still had a way of striking us in our refuge. Time to kick them into gear before a panic broke out.

I clapped my hands and started barking orders. “Alright everyone, we knew this was going to happen. Now we need to move on. Start packing up right now and be ready to head out at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning. We have a rendezvous with the Takagis and their associates before we reach the redoubt and we’ll miss them unless we’re ready to move out tomorrow.”


I moved through the camp, looking for those starting to panic at dead phones, dead flashlights, or even a beloved ipod. Shouting commands at everyone I could find I quickly got them back in action and not thinking about what had just happened. “Alright everyone. Time to get back to work. Open up the faraday cages and get those parts back in the cars, batteries into flashlights, and so on and so on. Do NOT use any electrical items unless you MUST because there is no telling when we’ll be able to recharge them. And as for replacing them? That’s not going to be happening. So stop gawking and start walking! Let’s go, go, go!”

It seemed to work as everyone I could see was rushing off to one task or another, a few stopping to get others who had been paralyzed by the implications of the EMP back moving. Soon the entire camp was a scramble of movement. Looking around I spotted Father Oshiro and quickly flagged him down. “Father, a moment of your time?”

The big man turned to me and said, “Very well but you said so yourself we must be quick.”

“Would you mind holding a private Mass tonight after we have everything packed up? I think I could use the spiritual strength.” I said more than a little sheepishly.

The older man nodded. “I was thinking much the same. I was able to save the chalice, however I will need bread and wine to serve as the body and blood.”

I nodded in acceptance. “Of course, father. What do you need? I don’t exactly have any hosts laying about...”

He smiled at me. “Don’t worry, my son. The substance doesn’t matter. What matters is the people and prayer. If you have some bagged bread and grape juice, it will do.”

I couldn’t help but grimace.

“Um, I have... soup crackers and purple kool-aid… And there may be some pure alcohol somewhere around here.” I said weakly.

The large priest grimaced slightly. “All that matters is the people and prayer...,” he repeated in a pained tone, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself as much as he was me.

I sighed and nodded, “I’ll see what I can do, Father.” Promising to find a case of wine at some point, I turned back to supervise the young men who were trying to get the important parts back into a trio of trucks, they were going to shock themselves if they weren’t careful.

----------

“Uggghhh....” I groaned as I collapsed into the main office bed set aside for me and Shizuka, I’d been a bit embarrassed at the time but frankly at this point I didn’t care anymore. If they wanted to pamper me then dammit I’ll take the pampering.

I had just left the ad hoc Mass Father Oshiro had led in one of the empty storage containers with Father Muzukashi assisting. Me, Mari, a number of the Catholic School’s students, and a few Christians among the other inhabitants of the camp were present. Shizuka had been there as well, she didn’t partake but she stood next to me during the entire service, holding my arm and letting me lean on her slightly to let some of the weight off of my feet.

I was still cringing as I remembered the height of the mass and watched Father Oshiro using a chopstick to dissolve the purple drink powder in the chalice… As God as my witness, tomorrow I was sending Oga and his boys out to knock over a liquor store. That was embarrassing. I thought Father Muzukashi/ was going to have a stroke.

Shizuka, usually a giggly and bubbly sort didn’t laugh at my theatrics. Instead, she silently crawled onto the bed, wearing a t-shirt and short-shorts. My girlfriend could launch a thousand ships wearing sackcloth and covered in ashes. With her glorious breasts about to pop out of her shirt and her cheeks playing constant peekaboo beneath her shorts… even with the world ending, I think I am a lucky man all things considered.

“Babe, I’m sorry but I don’t think I could perform if you got a forklift and an entire bottle of viagra.” I mumbled through the pillow as I felt her body weight shift along.

“I’m not asking for that Tom-kun. I just want to help my boyfriend. Just lie down and relax.” With that she straddled my hips and lifted my shirt off of my back and then her small and gentle hands began working loose the knots in my back.

Despite my earlier protestations, I felt a few slight stirrings begin but I ignored them. This wasn’t a sexual moment, just a tender one between two people who meant the world to each other. As she continued her ministrations she began humming a wordless tune, her voice was soft and pleasant, she wasn’t a trained singer but she could hold her own during karaoke nights.

When she worked one particularly bad knot I turned my head to look at her out of the corner of my eye and said, “Is it enough?”

“Is what enough?” She asked, her voice completely innocent.

“This, everything I’ve been doing. Will it be enough? I had a damn year to prepare, I thought I was ready but I still lost people, I still missed things. Like that stupid fucking condom thing...what if I missed something else? What if something I missed costs people their lives! We already had to bury two people when their pace makers crapped out during the EMP, and there are hundreds of others who need blood-thinners and other medication. What do I do for them?”

I wasn’t shouting, but my voice was raised and at a higher pitch as all the stress running through me reared its ugly head again. My mind went back to those two grave sites buried along one side of the perimeter, where the two whose hearts had given out were layed to rest. Despite myself I was relieved when neither of them got back up, confirming once and for all that a bite was needed for the zombification process. Small joys watching two families weep for their loved ones.

Shizuka was silent for a moment, her hands still as she considered my words. She didn’t move much, deep in thought. I wonder what she would say, could say, in this situation. Then she sighed and returned to her massage.

“People are going to die, Tom,” she replied sadly, with a seriousness she normally lacked “That’s the first thing they pound into your head when you go to med school. You can do everything right, but sometimes, people are still going to die. You aren’t perfect, you’re human. Just do what you can, when you can to help those who you can help. That’s all you can do, that’s all anyone reasonable can expect of you. Don’t think of how many people died. Think of everyone you’ve saved... just... Just look outside, Tom. Tell me. How many of them wouldn’t be here if not for you?”

I looked back up to her again, and after a moment, smiled slightly, “More than a few.”

“Say the word. How many?”

Another moment’s silence, “Only about six, definitely less than ten.” I admitted.

“There are hundreds of people out there,” she replied, softly, “At least. Probably a thousand or more. All lives you’ve saved.”

Twisting around to face her, I asked softly “How did you get so wise and what did I do to deserve you?” My hand reached up to touch her leg.

“When did you get so brave? When did you turn into a real-life superhero?” she asked in return, gently caressing my face.

I smiled and slowly pulled her into a kiss, one which she returned with great passion. And... well...

You know what?

I guess I did have a little energy left in me after all...